Clash of the Friends
by Nature9000
Summary: Realizing that they've been neglecting their friends since they became roommates, Sam and Cat rush to make amends, but find themselves all too late when their best friends find and confront them on their own. Can the situation be mended reasonably, or will the misunderstanding and neglect lead to broken friendships?


Clash of the Friends

Disclaimer: Don't own Sam & Cat

A/N: Dang it, I was hoping to have first oneshot, but oh well, here we go. Sam & Cat, people. I'm excited for the turn out since Sam was one of my favorite characters. Enjoy the oneshot. By the way, I'm throwing a bit of an easter egg for readers who have read my other works. Fanfic-reader and some others will catch it I'm sure ;). Anyway, keep a keen eye out and not only let me know what you think of the story, but let me know how many of the easter eggs you catch.

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-OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FRIENDS-

Sam stretched her arms out as she awoke from her afternoon nap. Her body was light and the couch felt surprisingly like a cloud. Her time in this home was the first time she truly felt _at home_, and she'd only been there a month. Her mind often trailed back to Seattle, but as she told Cat on the first night, there was nothing she was missing back there.

She'd spoken with Melanie a couple times to let her sister know how she was doing, and she'd talked once with her mom but only on that first day in California. Unsurprisingly when her mom heard that she was rooming with a girl, the woman proclaimed how she always knew her daughter would turn out lesbian. Sexual orientation had nothing to do with her situation, and Cat was her best friend, at this point.

The alarm clock on the end table displayed 2:34 as the time, just two hours after Cat called up about lunch. There were times when the two of them would go off the Hollywood Arts campus to eat lunch, their favorite spot happened to be the burger shack where they were still entitled to free sandwiches.

"Free sandwiches…" Sam closed her eyes at the visual and breathed in. Her stomach growled, causing her to flinch and gaze at the kitchen counter. "All the amenities of living on my home, no more breaking into my best friend's place. Free sandwiches at a restaurant? Freddie and Carly would-wait-"

Freddie and Carly? She'd not missed Freddie, since he turned into a great jackass before she left. Dating her, then crushing on Carly right after breaking up, only to ask her if she wanted to get back together, it was almost as if he was just using her to get over Carly from the start. Then Carly went ahead and kissed him goodbye when she left, something that hurt remarkably, but it was understandable and she forgave her friend for it. Regardless, she'd not talked to Freddie since the day Carly left, and Carly she'd not spoken with in a couple weeks! "I need to call her, now!"

Sam leapt from the couch and ran over to the black laptop on the kitchen counter. She swept cookie crumbs from the top and opened the computer up. She furiously typed her login info into Skype, then logged into Facebook. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she took notice of the notification and message count, it had been a long time since she used facebook, and Carly had been sending her messages each day. Freddie was, of course, blocked. Though she did have a request from a 'Nate Daniels', whose facebook photo resembled a hooded kid with shades that looked strikingly similar to Freddie. She rejected the request and instantly checked Carly's messages.

She looked over to Skype, biting her lip when she saw several new offline messages popping up. "Crap! I can't believe I did this!" Carly was not online on Facebook chat, but she _was _on Skype, albeit with a status listed as 'busy'. Her fingers worked frantically on the keyboard as she spewed out many apologies to Carly. After five excruciating minutes, Carly still wasn't answering. That wouldn't seem like much to most, but for Sam, it was a red flag considering Carly usually answered within a heartbeat.

The hunger that struck her moments ago was now gone as her eyes scanned Carly's most recent message on Skype. _"On a plane. I had to contact Freddie, of all people, to find you-and even Spencer! I'm on my way to California, since I got a hold of your sister, who said you were living there now. Funny, you told me you were going on a trip cross country, not that you were settling down…Hope to see you soon-I guess…" _The message was sent a day prior, which was a good sign that Carly was either there in LA now, or she was nearing the airport. Suddenly, Sam grew feverish and a faint feeling was overcoming her. She looked to the endearing sofa and moaned as she took a step towards it.

_2:46_, Cat looked up to the clock on the wall in Sikowitz's classroom as she hummed a gentle and nonchalant tune while fidgeting with the lace end of her skirt. She could feel someone's prying eyes on her and looked away, forgetting her anticipation over leaving. Every day now she was the first one out of the class room, because now she had someone who _cared_ about her, a truer friend than ever before. Unfortunately, it brought clear upset to those around her.

She met Jade's cold, yet fiery glare along with Tori's sad gaze. Things had not been going well for Tori recently, not since her elder sister ran away and sparked a huge fight with the remaining friends. Sinjin was also not speaking to any of them. Now she had to add to the pot that she, herself, had not genuinely spoken to any of them since Sam showed up.

She smiled half-heartedly and felt someone's elbow nudging her. "Robbie!" She beamed at the curly haired boy to her right, only to see him frown. He whispered that they needed to talk after class, and her eyes instantly flew to the clock. "But I need to get home!"

"Why? I've never seen you so eager to rush back to your Nona. I mean I know you love her and all, but-"

"Oh she lives in Elderly Acres now." She giggled and started playing with her hair, averting her gaze as Robbie's jaw dropped. "But it's not like I'm, you know-I um…It's hard to talk about, since I know things aren't-well-you know, the best right now."

"When did she move into a home-and you've been by yourself? Don't you need a roommate or something? Why not ask Tori? Or Jade? You and Jade have always been good friends in the past, though I don't know how-"

"I don't want people to think I'm replace-"

"Ahem!" Sikowitz cleared his throat and Cat's head snapped in his direction. His arms were folded and his eyes narrow. "Cat, I know we're five minutes from the end of class-but could you tone it down a little on the talking? You're disrupting class!"

She threw her hands to her head and let out a loud whine, "Sorry!" The reason she'd not told her friends about Sam yet was because she didn't want them to think she was replacing them with someone new. This was especially true when taking in the fact that instead of discussing potential roommates with Tori or Jade, she made a split decision for someone she'd never met. Granted, she would not have been in that situation in the first place if Sam hadn't let Nona go into the nursing home.

"You _have_ been acting strange lately," Jade scowled while Tori merely nodded her head. "I'm not used to you _not _annoying me into going to the movies to watch some fluffy little animated skit or something…What? Am I losing your friendship too or something?"

"It's not like that, Jade!"

Sikowitz threw his hands up, "Fine! Why don't we all just talk and ignore the instructor at the front of the room!"

"It won't happen again, Mr. Sikowitz!"

"It better not." He turned to the board and shrugged his arms while reaching for the marker. "Now. As I was saying-" Her phone chimed, causing her to flinch before pulling it from her pocket. It was an emergency text from Sam. Something was up and she needed to see her right away.

"I'm sorry! I have to go!" Sikowitz dropped his forehead onto the dry erase board and waved his hand in the air as Cat bolted from the room, ignoring her friends calling out to her.

Sam paced the front yard tirelessly until Cat's arrival. When the redhead came running around the corner, she took a sigh of relief. "Cat, you remember Carly right?" Cat screeched to a halt and nodded carefully. "Okay I know this is going to sound stupid, because it is, but I forgot to keep in contact with her. Now she's come looking for me. So…we might be having a visitor…"

"Okay…Well you know my friends at Hollywood Arts?" Sam raised an eyebrow and stepped back, she remembered Cat mentioning Robbie as a guy she liked but freaked out whenever he tried to ask her out, but nothing more about the other friends .

"Uh…No you've never talked about them."

"Oh shoot, I thought I had."

"I wouldn't mind meeting them. I'm sure they're great people. Maybe you wouldn't mind meeting Carly? We could all get together and-"

"Sounds great." Another voice startled the two of them. They spun around to see Carly and Jade glaring down at them. Their bodies rigid and tense, and their mouths thin-lipped. Cat started to pale while Sam rubbed the back of her neck, swallowing fearfully as their white hot gaze burned into her soul.

She knew what these two, or at least Carly, must be feeling. Rejection, anger, hurt, and perhaps even jealousy. Carly threw her hands up into the air, her eyes flaring like mad. "Do you know what I had to go through just to find you, Sam?! The last I heard you were seen around that Hollywood Arts school around here." Of course, Sam told her about having saved Cat from the trash compactor. Carly pointed to Cat, then to Jade. "I saw her flying out of the school, then saw Jade chasing her."

Cat looked over to Jade, covering her mouth. "I didn't know you were following me…"

"Oh can it, sister, you're no better!" Jade gestured her thumb to Carly, her voice rose to heightened levels. "She and I got a chance to talk and she told me about this situation with you and that truck. We put two and two together while following you. How could you not tell us anything about that, or about this new roommate?" Jade slammed her foot on the ground and Cat shrank away. "I thought we were friends! Or are you just abandoning us too like Vega's sister? Maybe it's not that, maybe I'm pushing you away? If it's me, just let me know, I'd be more than happy to leave you alone! I assure you!"

"Hey no need to talk to her like that," Sam replied urgently, only realizing her mistake all too late. Jade snapped her glare over to her. She watched as Carly raised an eyebrow and Cat bowed her head. "I-I mean we can all handle this civilly right? It was all just a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?!" Carly shrieked. "You 'forget' to tell your best friend you've got a new friend and that you rooming up with someone? How is that a _misunderstanding?!"_ Carly and Jade put their hands to their hips

"You don't understand," Cat began, "We were just having so much fun going on all these adventures babysitting that time just got the better of us."

"Who asked you!" Carly studied Cat with a keen eye. Her frown deepened and Sam turned to see what she was looking at. Cat was wearing a pink top and purple skirt with red slippers. "It's funny, Sam, she reminds me a little of myself. Likes pink, purple, and is a bit prissy looking…" Carly nodded to Jade and wagged her eyebrows. "This girl over here seems a lot like you, Sam." Sam's hand flew to her forehead and Cat yelped as Jade began growling.

"So you _are_ replacing us!" Jade barked. "I'm going for a new record! Wow! How many friends can I run off before I'm all alone, I wonder? Wouldn't surprise me now if Beck dumped me tomorrow! Oh wait, no, he already has." Jade tapped her chin carefully and started to mutter. "You would have known this normally because you're usually the one I go to first, but no, you were too busy to talk to me. Now I see why!"

"It isn't like that!" Cat started to tear up. Sam felt her heart break for her friend, but she was too nervous to act up. She didn't want Carly to hate her, she definitely didn't want to do anything to make Jade think Cat didn't care. She did.

"What's going on here?" This time it was a man's voice. Sam looked over to see a tall and skinny, curly haired, nerdish kid walking down the alley. Cat was too busy sobbing under her breath to notice. The boy walked up to her and lifted a finger beneath her eye. "Don't cry Cat. Hey, I told you I needed to talk to you, sorry, I got caught up with Sinjin. He needed help loading up the car."

"What'd he want, Robbie?" Cat asked through her tears as she wiped them away. Sam started to smile, grateful for Robbie's appearance.

"He's moving, says he doesn't know where to, he's going to try and find Tori's sister. I guess that's a start. Now…About this situation…" He folded his arms and turned towards Carly and Jade. "What's going on that you four can't talk reasonably? Jade, I've never known you to make Cat cry before…"

"She's replacing me!" Jade pointed towards Sam and Robbie's calm eyes followed. He chuckled softly and lifted his hands.

"Let's take this one step at a time. I think that's something Beck would say, right? I could hear you four screaming from two roads back almost. One at a time, and _calmly_. Jade, you first. Don't yell, don't scream, you see Cat's already at breaking point right?"

"Whatever." Jade looked over to Cat and lowered her arms, frowning as the girl stepped behind Sam. "Cat look, I'm sorry…I really am, I just…It hurts okay? You don't talk to any of us, you won't sit with us at the lunch table anymore. I've _never_ known you to go somewhere else during lunch. Ever. I…I worry-I blame myself for running Tori's sister out of town, I know it's my fault. It cost me Tori's friendship, cost me my boyfriend, I was never really friends with Robbie or Andre much, and you're all I have left…I don't want to push you away too! Then I see-you're with this person, and Shay here says she's like me, so…so what am I supposed to think? I didn't even know you were doing some babysitting thing."

Robbie looked over to Cat, expecting an answer. Sam stepped out of the way, pleased with this guy's intervention. Cat locked her fingers together in front of her waist and bowed her head like a timid schoolgirl. "It really isn't like that Jade I met Sam when she got me out of that trash thing, and Nona convinced her to drive her to elderly acres, so I needed a roommate. I don't know why my first thought was to ask her, I just…I don't know, we had a lot of fun and I thought maybe there'd be more fun times ahead. Then with Trina leaving and everything else going on, I thought maybe I shouldn't say anything right now, one thing led to another and time just…I never got around to saying anything. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Sam smiled at Jade and Carly. She felt it was a good time to speak up, since Robbie seemed to have a decent hold on the situation now. She didn't want another screaming match, she was done screaming when she left her mother behind. "Jade, I never meant to step on any toes. I didn't realize I was keeping her away from her friends." She looked to Cat, clearing her throat. "You _do_ need to spend time with them too, Cat. I mean come one, Jade's your friend."

"I _know_…"

"Funny you should say that," Carly tapped her foot on the ground and Sam winced. "You should know a thing or two about ignoring your friends, right Sam? After everything with Freddie, after everything in Seattle, I thought maybe. Just _maybe_ you'd be able to keep up some solid communication with me, I never imagined I'd have to come looking for you, only to find you settling down with someone that's almost as 'girly' as I was-or am-or whatever…The point is-"

"I know, Carly. I know. It's like Cat said, things got busy with the babysitting business and all the stuff we've been up to. I haven't really gotten time to get on the computer much between that and, well, sleeping. I'll try to keep up communication with you, honest. I never meant to ignore you. I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Cat looked over to Jade and stretched her arms out, smiling hopefully at the two girls. "Forgive us?" Jade and Carly exchanged bemused expressions and rolled their eyes.

"Fine," they replied.

"We never had proper introductions!" Cat instantly began pointing around at everyone, calling them all out by name. "Sam, this is Robbie and Jade. Robbie, Jade, this is Sam, my new roommate and a new friend. I promise she's not replacing anyone."

"Likewise," Sam raised a hand and chuckled. A sense of calmness surrounded her as she turned to Carly, finally happy to have had some sort of exchange with her. "Cat, this is Carly, my best friend. Carly, this is Cat, she's also a best friend."

"Glad that's all resolved," Robbie remarked while smirking at the girls. "I guess it kind of answers a few questions I had, but hey…at least you guys are talking and not killing each other? How about we all grab a bite to eat somewhere instead of standing here? Get to know one another better."

The girls all agreed and followed him towards a nearby restaurant. Sam was thrilled to have all her friends together, and by the joyous look on Cat's face, so was she. A promise was to be made at this gathering, and that was to make sure never to let their friends fall through the cracks while spending time with another person. Space was a good thing, yes, but too much could become a bad thing and give people the wrong impressions.

This truly did seem to be the start of something new.

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I hope you enjoyed this oneshot. I tried to keep it in the confines of a oneshot, since I'm not ready to write a full story right now, but I shall in time. Let me know what your thoughts are on this.


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